Using identity information to facilitate interaction with people moving through areas

ABSTRACT

A system receives a digital representation of a biometric for a person, uses the digital representation of the biometric to determine and/or otherwise retrieve identity information associated with the person, and uses the identity information to perform one or more actions related to the person&#39;s presence in one or more areas. For example, the system may estimate a path for the person and signal an agent electronic device based on the path. In another example, the system may determine a presence of a person within the area and/or transmit information to an agent electronic device regarding the determined presence. In still another example, the system may receive a request to communicate with the person and forward the communication to the person using the identity information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation patent application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/394,678, filed Apr. 25, 2019 and titled “UsingIdentity Information to Facilitate Interaction with People MovingThrough Areas,” the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD

The described embodiments relate generally to electronic systems thatfacilitate interaction with people moving through areas. Moreparticularly, the present embodiments relate to systems that useidentity information to facilitate interaction with people movingthrough areas.

BACKGROUND

People move through a variety of different areas. For example, peoplemove through various portions of airports as part of air travel. Theyarrive at a first airport, move through ticketing, security screening,and a gate onto a plane (possibly also visiting one or more otherrestaurants, shops, restrooms, and/or other places), fly to a secondairport, move through another gate and on out of the second airport, andso on.

People interact with a number of different devices and/or entities aspart of moving through such areas. For example, in the airport scenariosdiscussed above, people may interact with one or more check-in and/orticketing stations and/or other computing devices, personnel, and so on;security screening devices and/or personnel; restaurant and/or othershopping stations and/or other computing devices, personnel, and so on;gate stations and/or other computing devices, personnel, and so on;onboard aircraft stations and/or other computing devices, personnel, andso on; and/or the like.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to facilitating interaction with peoplemoving through areas. A system receives a digital representation of abiometric for a person, uses the digital representation of the biometricto determine and/or otherwise retrieve identity information associatedwith the person, and uses the identity information to perform one ormore actions related to the person's presence in one or more areas. Forexample, the system may estimate a path for the person and signal anagent electronic device based on the path. In another example, thesystem may determine a presence of a person within the area and/ortransmit information to an agent electronic device regarding thedetermined presence. In still another example, the system may receive arequest to communicate with the person and forward the communication tothe person using the identity information. Various configurations arepossible and contemplated without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

In various embodiments, a system for facilitating interaction with oneor more people moving through one or more areas includes at least onenon-transitory storage medium that stores instructions, at least onecommunication unit, and at least one processor communicably coupled tothe at least one communication unit. The at least one processor executesthe instructions to receive a digital representation of a biometric fora person, use the digital representation of the biometric to determineidentity information associated with the person, estimate a path for theperson within at least one area, and signal an agent electronic devicebased on the path using the at least one communication unit.

In some examples, the at least one processor analyzes traffic for the atleast one area using at least the identity information. In variousimplementations of such examples, the at least one processor signals theagent electronic device, using the at least one communication unit, toshift a resource based on the traffic. In a number of implementations ofsuch examples, the at least one processor uses the at least onecommunication unit to transmit a redirection message based on thetraffic to an electronic device indicated as associated with the personin the identity information. In some examples of such implementations,the at least one processor transmits the redirection message toprioritize a first portion of the traffic over a second portion of thetraffic. In various implementations of such examples, the trafficincludes data from biometric identifications of other people. In someimplementations of such examples, the traffic includes data regardingpeople within the at least one area received from the agent electronicdevice.

In some embodiments, a system for facilitating interaction with one ormore people moving through one or more areas includes at least onenon-transitory storage medium that stores instructions and at least oneprocessor. The at least one processor executes the instructions toreceive a digital representation of a biometric for a person, use thedigital representation of the biometric to determine identityinformation associated with the person, and determine a presence of theperson within at least one area using the identity information.

In various examples, the at least one processor receives an inquiryregarding the presence of the person within the at least one area froman agent electronic device and provides information regarding thepresence of the person within the at least one area to the agentelectronic device. In some examples, the at least one processor uses thepresence of the person within the at least one area and the identityinformation to estimate a path for the person. In various examples, theat least one processor determines the presence of the person within theat least one area using a location of an electronic device from whichthe at least one processor receives the digital representation of thebiometric. In a number of examples, the at least one processor tracksmovement of the person within the at least one area in the identityinformation.

In some examples, the at least one processor determines the presence ofthe person within the at least one area by estimating a location of anelectronic device indicated as associated with the person in theidentity information. In a number of implementations of such examples,the at least one processor estimates the location of the electronicdevice using global positioning system data.

In various embodiments, a system for facilitating interaction with oneor more people moving through one or more areas includes at least onenon-transitory storage medium that stores instructions, at least onecommunication unit, and at least one processor communicably coupled tothe at least one communication unit. The at least one processor executesthe instructions to receive a digital representation of a biometric fora person, use the digital representation of the biometric to determineidentity information associated with the person, receive a request tocommunicate with the person from an agent electronic device using the atleast one communication unit, and forward a communication to the personaccording to the request using the identity information and the at leastone communication unit.

In some examples, the communication provides directions to the person.In various examples, the communication includes updated ticketinformation for the person. In a number of examples, the at least oneprocessor forwards the communication using at least one of a phonenumber or an email address included in the identity information.

In various examples, the communication includes an offer for the person.In some implementations of such examples, the at least one processor isoperable to receive a response from the person accepting the offer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be readily understood by the following detaileddescription in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein likereference numerals designate like structural elements.

FIG. 1 depicts a first example system for using identity information tofacilitate interaction with one or more people moving through one ormore areas.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart illustrating a first example method forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method may be performed bythe system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A illustrates a first example implementation of the system of FIG.1.

FIG. 3B illustrates a second example implementation of the system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3C illustrates a third example implementation of the system of FIG.1.

FIG. 3D illustrates a fourth example implementation of the system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3E illustrates a fifth example implementation of the system of FIG.1.

FIG. 3F illustrates a sixth example implementation of the system of FIG.1.

FIG. 3G illustrates a seventh example implementation of the system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3H illustrates an eighth example implementation of the system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 depicts a second example system for using identity information tofacilitate interaction with one or more people moving through one ormore areas.

FIG. 5 depicts a flow chart illustrating a second example method forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method may be performed bythe systems of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

FIG. 6 depicts a flow chart illustrating a third example method forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method may be performed bythe systems of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

FIG. 7 depicts a flow chart illustrating a fourth example method forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method may be performed bythe systems of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

FIG. 8 depicts a flow chart illustrating a fifth example method forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method may be performed bythe systems of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

FIG. 9 depicts a flow chart illustrating a sixth example method forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method may be performed bythe systems of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

FIG. 10 depicts a flow chart illustrating a seventh example method forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method may be performed bythe systems of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to representative embodimentsillustrated in the accompanying drawings. It should be understood thatthe following descriptions are not intended to limit the embodiments toone preferred embodiment. To the contrary, it is intended to coveralternatives, modifications, and equivalents as can be included withinthe spirit and scope of the described embodiments as defined by theappended claims.

The description that follows includes sample systems, methods, andcomputer program products that embody various elements of the presentdisclosure. However, it should be understood that the describeddisclosure may be practiced in a variety of forms in addition to thosedescribed herein.

A variety of different disparate entities may operate electronic systemsand/or other devices in areas through which people may move. It may beuseful for such entities, systems, and/or devices to know when peopleare present in various locations in the area, to know where the peoplemove and/or are moving, to be able to communicate with people as theymove through the area, and/or otherwise interact with the people movingthrough and/or otherwise present in the area.

For example, security screening at an airport may have contact withpeople when the people are at a security screening station. However, thesecurity screening may not be able to be aware when and which peoplewill arrive at the security screening station, which may result ininefficient operation (which may require redundant equipment, personnel,and so on; may result in delays; and/or otherwise operateinefficiently). The security screening may also be unable to communicatewith people efficiently either before and/or after they leave thesecurity screening station. By way of illustration, the securityscreening may resort to repeatedly paging people over a public addresssystem when items are forgotten at the security, which may be unlikelyto successfully reach people much of the time as well as beinginefficient and bothersome to other people in the airport.

By way of another example, airlines may have contact with people whenthe people check in for a flight, board through a gate, and/or arepresent on an aircraft. However, the airlines may not be aware peopleare present if the people have not initiated contact. Further, theairlines may not be aware of where people travel after a contact. By wayof illustration, airline policy may state that seats are subject toreassignment if people are not present by the gate within a half hourfrom the flight, but the airline may not be adequately aware whether ornot this is the case and may not be able to reassign forfeited seatsefficiently and timely. The airlines may assume that checked in peopleare present, even if they are not, until boarding completes and peopleare missing. The airlines may also repeatedly call out names of peoplewho have not checked in, which may be unlikely to successfully promptresponses much of the time as well as being inefficient and bothersometo other people near the gate.

In another example, restaurants and/or other shopping establishments mayhave contact with people when the people are purchasing and/or otherwiseobtaining goods and/or services. However, the restaurants and/or othershopping establishments may be unaware of people if they people have notinitiated contact, and may not be aware of where people go after contactends. By way of illustration, a store may not be aware of a personpassing outside whereas the store might offer the person a shoppingincentive to come in if the store was aware.

These various issues may all be addressed by interfacing with anidentity system. The identity system may store and/or otherwise controlaccess to identity information for people. The identity information maybe used to identify people, verify asserted identity, verify variousinformation associated with identity (such as whether or not a personhas a valid flight and/or other ticket and/or other authorization to bein an area, whether or not the person is at least 21 years old and/oranother age, whether or not the person has a verified identity document,and so on), process one or more payments, track one or more rewardsand/or loyalty accounts, determine presence of a person in an area,track movement of a person, predict and/or otherwise estimate where aperson will go, and so on. Such an identity system may control access tothe identity information using various identification information. Forexample, a person may authorize access to part or all of the identityinformation by providing one or more biometrics and/or digitalrepresentations thereof that may be compared against stored biometricdata associated with the identity information. By way of anotherexample, an electronic device may provide an authorization token and/orother identifier establishing that the electronic device is authorizedto access identity information for one or more people. Regardless, theidentity system may communicate with a variety of different devices thatmay or may not be present in one or more areas to facilitate interactionwith one or more people traveling through the area. In this way, thedevices may be able to interact with the people in ways they would nototherwise be capable, in ways that are more efficient than they would beable to do otherwise and/or using less hardware and/or softwareresources and/or other components than would be otherwise possible, andso on. Such devices may be able to locate people, track movement ofpeople, shift resources based on traffic, communicate with people whilethe people are in the areas, and so on.

The following disclosure relates to facilitating interaction with peoplemoving through areas. A system may receive a digital representation of abiometric for a person, use the digital representation of the biometricto determine and/or otherwise retrieve identity information associatedwith the person, and use the identity information to perform one or moreactions related to the person's presence in one or more areas. Forexample, the system may estimate a path for the person and signal anagent electronic device based on the path. In another example, thesystem may determine a presence of a person within the area and/ortransmit information to an agent electronic device regarding thedetermined presence. In still another example, the system may receive arequest to communicate with the person and forward the communication tothe person using the identity information. Various configurations arepossible and contemplated without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

These and other embodiments are discussed below with reference to FIGS.1-10. However, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that thedetailed description given herein with respect to these Figures is forexplanatory purposes only and should not be construed as limiting.

FIG. 1 depicts a first example system 100 for using identity informationto facilitate interaction with one or more people moving through one ormore areas. The system 100 may include one or more identity systemelectronic devices 102 that use stored identity information tofacilitate interaction with one or more people moving through one ormore areas 105. The identity system electronic device 102 may controlaccess to the identity information, such as by matching one or morereceived digital representations of biometrics to stored biometric dataassociated with identity information before providing access to theidentity information (though in other examples the access may beprovided upon receipt of authorized account logins and/or passwords,authorization tokens, and/or other access control mechanisms withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure).

For example, the system 100 may also include one or more stations 103located in the area 105 that are operable to communicate with theidentity system electronic device 102 via one or more networks 104. Thestation 103 may be operable to provide one or more digitalrepresentations of one or more biometrics from one or more people to theidentity system electronic device 102 and receive one or more responsesfrom the identity system electronic device 102. The identity systemelectronic device 102 may use the identity information to provide avariety of different responses to the station and/or one or more otherelectronic devices. Such responses may identify people, verify assertedidentity, verify various information associated with identity (such aswhether or not a person has a valid flight and/or other ticket and/orother authorization to be in a section of the area 105, whether or notthe person is at least 21 years old and/or another age, whether or notthe person has a verified identity document, and so on), process one ormore payments, track one or more rewards and/or loyalty accounts,determine presence of a person in the area 105, track movement of aperson, predict and/or otherwise estimate where a person will go, and soon.

In various implementations, the identity system electronic device 102may receive a digital representation of a biometric for a person, usethe digital representation of the biometric to determine and/orotherwise retrieve identity information associated with the person, anduse the identity information to perform one or more actions related tothe person's presence in the area 105. For example, the identity systemelectronic device 102 may estimate a path for the person and signal anagent electronic device based on the path. In another example, theidentity system electronic device 102 may determine a presence of aperson within the area 105 and/or transmit information to an agentelectronic device regarding the determined presence. In still anotherexample, the identity system electronic device 102 may receive a requestto communicate with the person and forward the communication to theperson using the identity information.

The station 103 may be any kind of electronic device. Examples of suchdevices include, but are not limited to, one or more desktop computingdevices, laptop computing devices, mobile computing devices, wearabledevices, tablet computing devices, mobile telephones, smart phones,printers, displays, kiosks, vehicles, kitchen appliances, entertainmentsystem devices, digital media players, and so on. The station 103 mayinclude one or more processors 110 and/or other processing units and/orcontrollers, one or more non-transitory storage media 111 (which maytake the form of, but is not limited to, a magnetic storage medium;optical storage medium; magneto-optical storage medium; read onlymemory; random access memory; erasable programmable memory; flashmemory; and so on), one or more communication units 112, one or morebiometric reader devices 113 (such as a fingerprint scanner, a veinscanner, a palm-vein scanner, an optical fingerprint scanner, aphosphorescent fingerprint scanner, a still image and/or video camera, a2D and/or 3D image sensor, a capacitive sensor, a saliva sensor, adeoxyribonucleic acid sensor, a heart rhythm monitor, a microphone, andso on), and/or one or more other components, such as one or moreinput/output components (including, but not limited to, one or moredisplays, touch screens, printers, microphones, speakers, keyboards,computer mice, track pads, and so on). The processor 110 may execute oneor more sets of instructions stored in the non-transitory storage media111 to perform various functions, such as using the biometric readerdevice 113 to obtain one or more digital representations of one or morebiometrics (such as one or more hashes and/or other digitalrepresentations of one or more fingerprints, vein scans, palm-veinscans, voiceprints, facial images, retina images, iris images,deoxyribonucleic acid sequences, heart rhythms, gaits, and so on) for aperson, communicate with the identity system electronic device 102 viathe network 104 using the communication unit 112, and so on.

Similarly, the identity system electronic device 102 may be any kind ofelectronic device and/or cloud and/or other computing arrangement andmay include one more processors 114, non-transitory storage media 115,communication units 116, and/or other components. The processor 114 mayexecute one or more sets of instructions stored in the non-transitorystorage media 115 to perform various functions, such as storingbiometric data for people and associated identity information (such asone or more names, addresses, telephone numbers, notificationpreferences and/or other notification information, social securitynumbers, frequent flyer numbers, financial data, financial accountnumbers, verified ages, boarding pass data, flight data, movement data,historic movement data, and so on), receive one or more digitalrepresentations of biometrics, match one or more received digitalrepresentations of biometrics to stored biometric data, retrieveidentity information associated with stored biometric data matching oneor more received digital representations of biometrics, provideretrieved identity information, communicate with the station 103 and/orone or more other electronic devices within and/or outside of the area105 (such as one or more governmental or private biometric and/oridentity databases, payment processing systems, identity documentverification systems such as a passport and/or driver's licenseverification and/or other identity card system, no fly list databases,law enforcement databases, and so on) via the network 104 using thecommunication unit 116, and so on.

Although the system 100 is illustrated and described as includingparticular components arranged in a particular configuration thatperform particular functions, it is understood that this is an example.In various implementations, various arrangements of various componentsthat perform various functions may be implemented without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the area 105 is illustrated as a single area 105. However,it is understood that this is an example. In various implementations,the system 100 may facilitate interaction with people as the people movethrough multiple areas 105 without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. The areas 105 may or may not be related. Forexample, in some implementations, the system 100 may facilitateinteraction with people as the people move through an origin airport,one or more layover airports, and a destination airport. Variousconfigurations are possible and contemplated without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

By way of another example, the identity system electronic device 102 isillustrated as outside of the area 105. However, it is understood thatthis is an example. In some implementations, the identity systemelectronic device 102 may be located inside the area 105, partiallywithin the area 105, and so on without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts a flow chart illustrating a first example method 200 forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method 200 may beperformed by the system 100 of FIG. 1.

At operation 210, an electronic device, such as the identity systemelectronic device 102 and/or the station 103 of FIG. 1, may receive oneor more digital representations of one or more biometrics from one ormore people. The digital representation of the biometric may include,but is not limited to, one or more hashes and/or other digitalrepresentations of one or more fingerprints, vein scans, palm-veinscans, voiceprints, facial images, retina images, iris images,deoxyribonucleic acid sequences, heart rhythms, gaits, and so on. Thedigital representation of the biometric may be captured using variousbiometric reader devices. These biometric reader devices may be activeand/or passive and may include, but are not limited to, a fingerprintscanner, a vein scanner, a palm-vein scanner, an optical fingerprintscanner, a phosphorescent fingerprint scanner, a still image and/orvideo camera, a 2D and/or 3D image sensor, a capacitive sensor, a salivasensor, a deoxyribonucleic acid sensor, a heart rhythm monitor, amicrophone, and so on.

At operation 220, the electronic device may determine identityinformation associated with the digital representation of the biometric.For example, the electronic device may retrieve identity informationassociated with stored biometric data that matches the digitalrepresentation of the biometric.

At operation 230, the electronic device may provide a response using theidentity information. The response may facilitate interaction with theperson as the person moves through an area. The response may identifythe person, verify asserted identity, verify various informationassociated with identity (such as whether or not the person has a validflight and/or other ticket and/or other authorization to be in a sectionof the area, whether or not the person is at least 21 years old and/oranother age, whether or not the person has a verified identity document,and so on), process one or more payments, track one or more rewardsand/or loyalty accounts, determine presence of the person in the area,track movement of the person, predict and/or otherwise estimate wherethe person will go, communicate with the person, facilitatecommunication with the person, and so on.

In various examples, this example method 200 may be implemented as agroup of interrelated software modules or components that performvarious functions discussed herein. These software modules or componentsmay be executed within a cloud network and/or by one or more computingdevices, such as the identity system electronic device 102 and/or thestation 103 of FIG. 1.

Although the example method 200 is illustrated and described asincluding particular operations performed in a particular order, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, variousorders of the same, similar, and/or different operations may beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the method 200 is illustrated and described as providingresponses using identity information determined using received digitalrepresentations of biometrics. However, other operations may also beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Byway of illustration, the electronic device may use the identityinformation to determine presence of people, track movement of people,communication and/or facilitate communication with people, and/orotherwise facilitate interaction with people. The electronic device mayobtain and store identity information for people when determiningidentity information associated with a biometric. For example, theelectronic device may record in the identity information that thedigital representation of the biometric for the person has been receivedfrom a station in a particular location, indicating that the person ispresent at the particular location. Various configurations are possibleand contemplated without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3A illustrates a first example implementation of the system 100 ofFIG. 1. In this example, a station 303A includes an external biometricreader device 313A configured as a camera. The biometric reader device313A may actively and/or passively obtain digital representation ofbiometrics from a person 320A. For example, the biometric reader device313A may capture one or more images of one or more irises, retinas,facial images, and so on of the person 320A as the person 320A arrivesat an area 305A.

For example, the biometric reader device 313A may capture one or moredigital representations of biometrics of the person 320A as the person320A arrives at an airport. The digital representation of the biometricmay be used to retrieve identity information for the person. Theidentity information may be used to identify the person 320A, check theperson 320A in for a flight, communicate flight information to theperson 320A (such as by transmitting gate information, flightinformation, seat assignment, an airport map, directions through theairport, directions to a particular security lane, and so on to anelectronic device and/or email and/or other messaging system accountassociated with the person 320A), determine or estimate airport trafficthat includes the person 320A, shift resources based on the personand/or traffic determined and/or estimated including the person 320A,and so on.

FIG. 3B illustrates a second example implementation of the system 100 ofFIG. 1. In this example, a station 303B at an area 305B includes anintegrated biometric reader device 313B configured as a fingerprintscanner. The biometric reader device 313B may obtain digitalrepresentation of one or more fingerprints from a person 320B. Forexample, the station 303B may be a check-in kiosk at a ticketing counterat an airport that may use the biometric reader device 313B to captureone or more digital representations of one or more fingerprints of theperson 320B as the person 320B checks in for a flight, drops off checkluggage, pays to upgrade flight options, and so on.

FIG. 3C illustrates a third example implementation of the system 100 ofFIG. 1. In this example, a station 303C may be a personal electronicdevice that may be operated by a person 320C in an area 305C. Thestation 303C may include an integrated biometric reader device 313Cconfigured as an integrated image sensor. For example, the personalelectronic device may execute an app and/or other application thatobtains one or more digital representations of biometrics for the person320C using the image sensor and communicates with an identity system tocheck the person 320C in for a flight, obtain flight and/or other gateinformation and/or other directions, and so on.

FIG. 3D illustrates a fourth example implementation of the system 100 ofFIG. 1. In this example, a station 303D includes an external biometricreader device 313D configured as a camera. The biometric reader device313D may actively and/or passively obtain a digital representation ofbiometrics from a person 320D as the person 320D approaches a number ofaccess lanes (such as security screening access lanes) at an area 305D.

For example, traffic may be monitored and analyzed using the biometricreader device 313D and/or other data and resources (such as access lanepersonnel, hardware and/or software resources, and so on) may be shiftedbased on the traffic. By way of another example, the access lanes mayinclude different tier lanes (such as a general security screeningaccess lane, a reduced security screening access lane, a priorityreduced security screening access lane, and so on) and the person 320Dmay be directed to an access lane associated with information includedin their identity information. In yet another example, the person 320Dmay be directed to a faster and/or slower security screening access lanebased on whether the person 320D has flight information indicated intheir identity information that departs sooner and/or later than otherpeople in the area 305D (such as to prioritize people with soonerdeparting flights over people with later departing flights).

In other examples, the station 303D may be situated at a location otherthan proximate to access lanes. By way of illustration, the station 303Dmay use identity information for the person 320D to determine and/orestimate a path for the person 320D through the area 305D and determinethat the person 320D is not in a correct location and/or at a correcttime. For example, the person 320D may become lost and go to anincorrect terminal in an airport. As such, a communication may beforwarded to the person 320D directing the person 320D to where theperson 320D should be. In another example, the station 303D maydetermine that the person 320D reaches an airport gate prior to passingsecurity screening and/or sooner after passing security screening thanshould be possible. As such, the station 303D may flag that the person320D may be acting suspiciously and alert the authorities. In stillanother example, the station 303D may detect that an airline pilot hasan alcoholic beverage within a prohibited amount of time (such astwenty-four hours before a flight) and/or is otherwise behaving in aconcerning manner. As such, the station 303D may transmit an alert aboutthe airline pilot to an appropriate authority who may take action toinvestigate and/or handle the situation.

FIG. 3E illustrates a fifth example implementation of the system 100 ofFIG. 1. In this example, a station 303E may include an integratedbiometric reader device 313E configured as a fingerprint scanner at anarea 305E that controls entrance to a location, such as an airportlounge. A person 320E may provide one or more fingerprints via thefingerprint scanner to access identity information (such as a frequentflyer status) that may indicate whether or not the person is authorizedto enter the airport lounge. If so, portions of the identity informationthat the person has authorized to be shared with the airport lounge maybe provided to the airport lounge as the person enters. This may includeage verification, food/drink and/or other preferences, paymentinformation, flight data for order scheduling purposes, and so on.

FIG. 3F illustrates a sixth example implementation of the system 100 ofFIG. 1. In this example, a station 303F may be configured as a point ofsale terminal at an area 305F where a concession operator is located.The station 303F may be configured with an integrated biometric readerdevice 313F configured as a fingerprint pad that is operable to obtainone or more digital representations of fingerprints from a person 320F.This may allow the station 303F to obtain payment for provided goodsand/or services, verify authorization to provide the goods and/orservices to the person (such as where the goods and/or services are onlylegally provided to people of a certain verified age, people with alicense to obtain the goods and/or services, and so on), to participatein a loyalty and/or rewards account associated with the person 320F, andso on.

FIG. 3G illustrates a seventh example implementation of the system 100of FIG. 1. In this example, a station 303G in an area 305G may beconfigured to control access to an airport gate. The station 303G mayinclude an external biometric reader device 313G configured as a camera.As people pass by the station 303G to board a plane, the biometricreader device 313G may obtain digital representations of one or morefacial, iris, retina, and/or other images. Accordingly, identityinformation associated with the people may be determined in order toidentify the people, verify the people have tickets on the associatedflight, upgrade and/or sell tickets to the people, direct the people asthey get on the plane, and so on.

FIG. 3H illustrates an eighth example implementation of the system ofFIG. 1. In this example, a station 303H may be configured as a personalentertainment system at an area 305H of an aircraft or other vehicle.The personal entertainment system may be operable to control anenvironment around a person 320H (such as a fan, reading light, seatadjustment, and so on), control entertainment options a person can viewand/or purchase and/or rent to view, control goods and/or services thatthe person 320H may request and/or purchase from aircraft staff, and soon. The station 303H may be configured with an integrated biometricreader device 313H configured as a fingerprint pad that is operable toobtain one or more digital representations of fingerprints from a person320H. This may allow the station 303H to obtain payment for providedgoods and/or services, verify authorization to provide the goods and/orservices to the person (such as where the goods and/or services are onlylegally provided to people of a certain verified age, people with alicense to obtain the goods and/or services, and so on), to participatein a loyalty and/or rewards account associated with the person 320H, andso on.

FIG. 4 depicts a second example system 400 for using identityinformation to facilitate interaction with one or more people movingthrough one or more areas. Similar to the system 100 of FIG. 1, thesystem 400 may include one or more stations 403 (which may include oneor more processors 410, non-transitory storage media 411, communicationunits 412, biometric reader devices 413, and/or other components)located in one or more areas 405 that are operable to communicate withone or more identity system electronic devices 402 (which may includeone or more processors 414, non-transitory storage media 415,communication units 416, and/or other components) via one or morenetworks 404. Additionally, the system 400 may include one or more agentelectronic device(s) 406. The agent electronic device 406 may and/or maynot also be located in the area 405.

The identity system electronic device 402 may communicate with the agentelectronic device 406 to facilitate interaction of the agent electronicdevice 406 and/or an operator thereof with one or more people movingthrough the area 405. For example, the identity system electronic device402 may estimate a path for a person and signal the agent electronicdevice 406 based on the path. In another example, the identity systemelectronic device 402 may determine a presence of a person within thearea 405 and/or transmit information to the agent electronic device 406regarding the determined presence. In still another example, theidentity system electronic device 402 may receive a request from theagent electronic device 406 to communicate with the person and forwardthe communication to the person using the identity information. Variousconfigurations are possible and contemplated without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

For example, one or more agent electronic devices 406 associated withsecurity screening and/or other security may communicate with theidentity system electronic device 402 in order to identify people,determine presence of people, track and/or predict movement of people,communicate with people, and so on in order to provide securityscreening and/or other security. By way of illustration, a securityinspection of check baggage may reveal items, such as lithium ionbatteries, that may be carried on a plane but not checked. In such asituation, the agent electronic device 406 may communicate with theidentity system electronic device 402 to forward a communication to aperson associated with the check baggage. The person may then come toclaim the items so that the check baggage may be loaded onto a plane.

In another example, one or more agent electronic devices 406 associatedwith an airline may communicate with the identity system electronicdevice 402 in order to identify people, determine presence of people,track and/or predict movement of people, communicate with people, and soon in order to check people in for flights, verify that people will bepresent for flights, change flight information for people, provideinformation to people regarding flights and/or directions for flights,and so on. By way of illustration, the agent electronic device 406 maycommunicate with the identity system electronic device 402 to determinepeople not present near a gate within a time limit (such as 20 minutesbefore flight, 30 minutes before a flight, and so on) and reassign seatsfor those people to standby passengers. The agent electronic device 406may also communicate with the identity system electronic device 402 todetermine where those people are, forward communications to those peopleabout rescheduled flight information, and so on.

In yet another example, one or more agent electronic devices 406associated with one or more restaurants, shops, or the like maycommunicate with the identity system electronic device 402 in order toidentify people, determine presence of people, track and/or predictmovement of people, communicate with people, and so on in order toprovide goods and/or services, verify that people are authorized toobtain goods and/or services, obtain payment for goods and/or services,and so on. By way of illustration, the agent electronic device 406 maycommunicate with the identity system electronic device 402 to charge aperson's credit card for food and drink purchased by the person.

In various implementations, the identity system electronic device 402may be operative to respond to queries from the agent electronic device406. The queries may involve the identity information, presence of aperson in the area 405, movement of a person, and so on. In a number ofimplementations, a person associated with the identity information maybe able to control how the identity system electronic device 402responds to queries for that person's information and/or what identityinformation and/or other information the identity system electronicdevice 402 is authorized to provide. This may be accomplished byquerying the person and receiving acknowledgements, using one or moresets of preferences stored in the identity information, and so on.

Similar to the station 403 and/or the identity system electronic device402, the agent electronic device 406 may be any kind of electronicdevice and/or cloud and/or other computing arrangement. The agentelectronic device 406 may include one or more processors 417,non-transitory storage media 418, communication units 419, and so on.The processor 417 may execute one or more sets of instructions stored inthe non-transitory storage media 418 to perform various functions, suchas communicating with the station 403 and/or the identity systemelectronic device 402 via the network 404 using the communication unit419, and so on.

Although the system 100 is illustrated and described as includingparticular components arranged in a particular configuration thatperform particular functions, it is understood that this is an example.In various implementations, various arrangements of various componentsthat perform various functions may be implemented without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the agent electronic device 406 is illustrated as locatedin the area 405. However, it is understood that this is an example. Insome implementations, the agent electronic device 406 may be locatedoutside the area 405, partially within the area 405, and so on withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure.

By way of another example, the agent electronic device 406 and thestation 403 are shown and described as separate devices. However, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, theagent electronic device 406 may include the biometric reader device 413,the agent electronic device 406 and the station 403 may be incorporatedinto a single device, and so on. Various configurations are possible andcontemplated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts a flow chart illustrating a second example method 500 forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method 500 may beperformed by the systems 100, 400 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

At operation 510, an electronic device, such as the identity systemelectronic devices 102, 402 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4, may receive one or moredigital representations of one or more biometrics for a person. Atoperation 520, the electronic device may use the digital representationof the biometric to determine associated identity information.

At operation 530, the electronic device may determine presence of theperson in an area using the identity information. For example, theelectronic device may determine presence of the person in an areaassociated with a flight using flight information stored in the identityinformation (such as whether or not the person has a flight ticket,whether or not the person checked in for a flight, whether or not theperson passed security screening, whether or not the person checkedbaggage, and so on). By way of another example, the electronic devicemay determine presence of the person in an area based on the location ofa device from which the digital representation of the biometric wasreceived. For example, the electronic device may assume that the personis at a security screening station based on the fact that the securityscreening station obtained the digital representation of the biometricfrom the person. In yet another example, the electronic device maydetermine an electronic device associated with the person in theidentity information (such as a mobile telephone) and use a locationcomponent (such as a global positioning system component) of thatelectronic device to determine a location for the person and/or whetheror not the person is present in an area based on that location. Variousconfigurations are possible and contemplated without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

In various examples, this example method 500 may be implemented as agroup of interrelated software modules or components that performvarious functions discussed herein. These software modules or componentsmay be executed within a cloud network and/or by one or more computingdevices, such as the identity system electronic device 102, 402 of FIGS.1 and/or 4, the agent electronic device 406 of FIG. 4, and/or thestations 103, 303A-303H, 403 of FIGS. 1 and/or 3A-4.

Although the example method 500 is illustrated and described asincluding particular operations performed in a particular order, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, variousorders of the same, similar, and/or different operations may beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the method 500 is illustrated and described as determiningthe presence of a person in an area. However, it is understood that thisis an example. In some implementations, the electronic device maydetermine a location of the person instead of whether or not the personis present in a particular area. Various configurations are possible andcontemplated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, a system for facilitating interaction with one ormore people moving through one or more areas may include at least onenon-transitory storage medium that stores instructions and at least oneprocessor. The at least one processor may execute the instructions toreceive a digital representation of a biometric for a person, use thedigital representation of the biometric to determine identityinformation associated with the person, and determine a presence of theperson within at least one area using the identity information.

In various examples, the at least one processor may receive an inquiryregarding the presence of the person within the at least one area froman agent electronic device and provide information regarding thepresence of the person within the at least one area to the agentelectronic device. In some examples, the at least one processor may usethe presence of the person within the at least one area and the identityinformation to estimate a path for the person. In various examples, theat least one processor may determine the presence of the person withinthe at least one area using a location of an electronic device fromwhich the at least one processor receives the digital representation ofthe biometric. In a number of examples, the at least one processor maytrack movement of the person within the at least one area in theidentity information.

In some examples, the at least one processor may determine the presenceof the person within the at least one area by estimating a location ofan electronic device indicated as associated with the person in theidentity information. In a number of such examples, the at least oneprocessor may estimate the location of the electronic device usingglobal positioning system data.

FIG. 6 depicts a flow chart illustrating a third example method 600 forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method 600 may beperformed by the systems 100, 400 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

At operation 610, an electronic device, such as the identity systemelectronic devices 102, 402 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4, may receive one or moredigital representations of one or more biometrics for a person. Atoperation 620, the electronic device may use the digital representationof the biometric to determine associated identity information.

At operation 630, the electronic device may use the identity informationto track presence and/or movement of the person within an area. Forexample, the electronic device may track the stations from which digitalrepresentations of the biometrics are received, the path between suchstations, correspondences between those such stations and data includedin the identity information (such as flight data for the person,frequented stores, and so on), movement of an electronic deviceassociated with the person, or the like.

In various examples, this example method 600 may be implemented as agroup of interrelated software modules or components that performvarious functions discussed herein. These software modules or componentsmay be executed within a cloud network and/or by one or more computingdevices, such as the identity system electronic device 102, 402 of FIGS.1 and/or 4, the agent electronic device 406 of FIG. 4, and/or thestations 103, 303A-303H, 403 of FIGS. 1 and/or 3A-4.

Although the example method 600 is illustrated and described asincluding particular operations performed in a particular order, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, variousorders of the same, similar, and/or different operations may beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, in some implementations, the electronic device may beoperable to perform the additional task of responding to requestsquerying the tracked presence and/or movement of the person. Variousconfigurations are possible and contemplated without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 depicts a flow chart illustrating a fourth example method 700 forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method 700 may beperformed by the systems 100, 400 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

At operation 710, an electronic device, such as the identity systemelectronic devices 102, 402 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4, may receive one or moredigital representations of one or more biometrics for a person. Atoperation 720, the electronic device may use the digital representationof the biometric to determine identity information associated with thedigital representation of the biometric.

At operation 730, the electronic device may use the identity informationto estimate a path for the person through one or more areas. Forexample, the electronic device may track the stations from which digitalrepresentations of the biometrics are received, the path between suchstations, correspondences between those such stations and data includedin the identity information (such as flight data for the person,frequented stores, and so on), movement of an electronic deviceassociated with the person, and/or other data. The electronic device mayevaluate this various data, compare the various data to each other, andso on. Using these evaluations and comparisons, the electronic devicemay estimate a path for the person.

At operation 740, the electronic device may signal one or more agentelectronic devices. The electronic device may signal the agentelectronic device in response to a request, based on evaluating theestimated path, and so on. For example, an airline agent electronicdevice may query to see when the person will arrive at an airport gate.By way of another example, the electronic device may signal a securityscreening agent device to indicate that the person will reach securityscreening at a particular time. Various configurations are possible andcontemplated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In various examples, this example method 700 may be implemented as agroup of interrelated software modules or components that performvarious functions discussed herein. These software modules or componentsmay be executed within a cloud network and/or by one or more computingdevices, such as the identity system electronic device 102, 402 of FIGS.1 and/or 4, the agent electronic device 406 of FIG. 4, and/or thestations 103, 303A-303H, 403 of FIGS. 1 and/or 3A-4.

Although the example method 700 is illustrated and described asincluding particular operations performed in a particular order, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, variousorders of the same, similar, and/or different operations may beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the method 700 is illustrated and described as estimating apath for the person. However, in some implementations, the electronicdevice may estimate where the person will go and when the person willarrive without estimating a full path that the person will travel.Various configurations are possible and contemplated without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure.

In various implementations, a system for facilitating interaction withone or more people moving through one or more areas may include at leastone non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions, at least onecommunication unit, and at least one processor communicably coupled tothe at least one communication unit. The at least one processor mayexecute the instructions to receive a digital representation of abiometric for a person, use the digital representation of the biometricto determine identity information associated with the person, estimate apath for the person within at least one area, and signal an agentelectronic device based on the path using the at least one communicationunit.

In some examples, the at least one processor may analyze traffic for theat least one area using at least the identity information. In varioussuch examples, the at least one processor may signal the agentelectronic device, using the at least one communication unit, to shift aresource based on the traffic. In a number of examples, the at least oneprocessor may use the at least one communication unit to transmit aredirection message based on the traffic to an electronic deviceindicated as associated with the person in the identity information. Byway of illustration, the at least one processor may transmit theredirection message to prioritize a first portion of the traffic over asecond portion of the traffic. In various such examples, the traffic mayinclude data from biometric identifications of other people. In somesuch examples, the traffic may include data regarding people within theat least one area received from the agent electronic device.

FIG. 8 depicts a flow chart illustrating a fifth example method 800 forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method 800 may beperformed by the systems 100, 400 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

At operation 810, an electronic device, such as the identity systemelectronic devices 102, 402 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4, may receive a requestto communicate with a person. In some implementations, the request maybe to communicate with a person in an area.

At operation 820, the electronic device accesses identity informationstored for the person. For example, the electronic device may use theidentity information to determine if the requestor is authorized tocommunicate with the person, whether or not contact information (such asa mobile telephone number, an email address and/or other messagingidentifier, and so on) is stored for the person, whether or not theperson is within an area, and so on.

At operation 830, the electronic device determines whether or not theelectronic device is able to communicate with the person. For example,the electronic device may determine that the electronic device is ableto communicate with the person if the requestor is authorized tocommunicate with the person, if contact information is available, theperson is located within an area, and so on. Conversely, the electronicdevice may determine that the electronic device is unable to communicatewith the person if the requestor is not authorized to communicate withthe person, if contact information is not available, the person is notlocated within an area, and so on. However, it is understood that theseare examples and that various configurations are possible andcontemplated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

If the electronic device is able to communicate with the person, theflow may proceed to operation 840 where the electronic device forwardsthe requested communication to the person. If not, the flow may proceedto operation 850 where the electronic device may respond to therequestor with an error.

For example, an airline agent electronic device may update ticketinformation for a person and request the electronic device communicatethe updated ticket information to the person. As such, the electronicdevice may receive the request to communicate with the person, accessidentity information for the person, determine that the electronicdevice can communicate with the person, and forward the updated ticketinformation to the person. Various configurations are possible andcontemplated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In various examples, this example method 800 may be implemented as agroup of interrelated software modules or components that performvarious functions discussed herein. These software modules or componentsmay be executed within a cloud network and/or by one or more computingdevices, such as the identity system electronic device 102, 402 of FIGS.1 and/or 4, the agent electronic device 406 of FIG. 4, and/or thestations 103, 303A-303H, 403 of FIGS. 1 and/or 3A-4.

Although the example method 800 is illustrated and described asincluding particular operations performed in a particular order, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, variousorders of the same, similar, and/or different operations may beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the method 800 is illustrated and described as forwardingthe requested communication to the person. However, it is understoodthat this is an example. In various implementations, the electronicdevice may instead respond to the requestor with contact information forthe person and allow the requestor to communicate with the persondirectly. Various configurations are possible and contemplated withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure.

In various embodiments, a system for facilitating interaction with oneor more people moving through one or more areas may include at least onenon-transitory storage medium that stores instructions, at least onecommunication unit, and at least one processor communicably coupled tothe at least one communication unit. The at least one processor mayexecute the instructions to receive a digital representation of abiometric for a person, use the digital representation of the biometricto determine identity information associated with the person, receive arequest to communicate with the person from an agent electronic deviceusing the at least one communication unit, and forward a communicationto the person according to the request using the identity informationand the at least one communication unit.

In some examples, the communication may provide directions to theperson. In various examples, the communication may include updatedticket information for the person. In a number of examples, the at leastone processor may forward the communication using at least one of aphone number or an email address included in the identity information.

In various examples, the communication may include an offer for theperson. In some such examples, the at least one processor may beoperable to receive a response from the person accepting the offer.

FIG. 9 depicts a flow chart illustrating a sixth example method 900 forusing identity information to facilitate interaction with one or morepeople moving through one or more areas. This method 900 may beperformed by the systems 100, 400 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

At operation 910, an electronic device, such as the identity systemelectronic devices 102, 402 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4, may receive a locationrequest for a person. The location request may request informationregarding the presence of a person within an area, within a particularportion of an area, and so on

At operation 920, the electronic device may determine whether or not theelectronic device can locate the person. For example, the electronicdevice may be operative to retrieve identity information for a person(such as identity information that may be used in an identificationsystem, age verification system, and so on) and use that identityinformation to determine the person's location. As such, the electronicdevice may determine the person cannot be located if the electronicdevice does not have sufficient information, if the electronic device isnot authorized to respond, and so on. Conversely, the electronic devicemay determine the person can be located if the electronic device doeshave sufficient information, if the electronic device is authorized torespond, and so on.

In some implementations, the electronic device may determine thelocation of the person using flight information stored in the identityinformation (such as whether or not the person has a flight ticket,whether or not the person checked in for a flight, whether or not theperson passed security screening, whether or not the person checkedbaggage, and so on). In various implementations, the electronic devicemay determine the location of the person based on the location of adevice from which a digital representation of a biometric associatedwith the person was received. For example, the electronic device mayassume that the person is at a security screening station based on thefact that the security screening station obtained the digitalrepresentation of the biometric from the person. In a number ofimplementations, the electronic device may determine an electronicdevice associated with the person in the identity information (such as amobile telephone) and use a location component (such as a globalpositioning system component) of that electronic device to determine alocation for the person. Various configurations are possible andcontemplated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

If the electronic device is able to locate the person, the flow mayproceed to operation 930 where the electronic device responds with theperson's location. If not, the flow may proceed to operation 940 wherethe electronic device may respond to the requestor with an error.

For example, a security screening agent electronic device may use agovernmental flight status database to retrieve information indicatingthat a person has a flight within the next few hours. The securityscreening agent electronic device may then request information regardingwhether or not the person is located in the airport on the way tosecurity screening in order to estimate security screening traffic flow.In such an example, the electronic device may determine that the personhas checked in for the flight and dropped off check baggage recently andis thus likely on the way to security screening. As such, the electronicdevice may respond affirmatively.

By way of another example, a merchant may request to know whether or notthe person is proximate to the merchant's store. If the electronicdevice is able to confirm this for the merchant, the merchant mayrequest that the electronic device provide the person an offer (such asan offer for free and/or discounted goods or services if the personcomes into the merchant's store and so on). As such, the electronicdevice may forward the offer to the person. In some implementations, theperson may be able to accept the offer, such as where the offer is in acommunication provided to a mobile electronic device of the person (suchas an offer for discounted goods and/or services if the person agrees tomembership in a loyalty or rewards account involving the merchant) andthe person can use the electronic device to accept the offer. Variousconfigurations are possible and contemplated without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

In various examples, this example method 900 may be implemented as agroup of interrelated software modules or components that performvarious functions discussed herein. These software modules or componentsmay be executed within a cloud network and/or by one or more computingdevices, such as the identity system electronic device 102, 402 of FIGS.1 and/or 4, the agent electronic device of FIG. 4, and/or the stations103, 303A-303H, 403 of FIGS. 1 and/or 3A-4.

Although the example method 900 is illustrated and described asincluding particular operations performed in a particular order, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, variousorders of the same, similar, and/or different operations may beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the method 900 is illustrated and described as respondingto a location request with the person's location. However, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, theelectronic device may contact an electronic device associated with theperson and request authorization to provide the person's location to therequestor. In such an implementation, the electronic device may refrainfrom providing the person's location to the requestor unlessauthorization from the person is received. Various configurations arepossible and contemplated without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 10 depicts a flow chart illustrating a seventh example method 1000for using identity information to facilitate interaction with one ormore people moving through one or more areas. This method 1000 may beperformed by the systems 100, 400 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4.

At operation 1010, an electronic device, such as the identity systemelectronic devices 102, 402 of FIGS. 1 and/or 4, may analyze traffic ofpeople in an area. In some implementations, the traffic may be analyzedbased on data from biometric identifications performed using a biometricidentification system. In various implementations, this data may besupplemented and/or substituted with data from one or more other systems(such as security screening traffic data provided by a securityscreening system, airline check-in traffic data provided by an airlinesystem, and so on). In a number of implementations, other identityinformation may be evaluated as part of analyzing traffic, which may ormay not be related to such biometric identifications, data received fromthe one or more other systems, and so on. For example, the electronicdevice may be operative to analyze flight data (such as whether or notpeople have a flight ticket, whether or not people have checked in for aflight, whether or not people have passed security screening, whether ornot people checked baggage, and so on), historic and/or current movementpatterns (such as based on locations of devices that obtain digitalrepresentation of biometrics associated with people, tracking locationcomponents of electronic devices associated with people, and so on),purchasing patterns, and so on.

At operation 1020, the electronic device determines whether or not tosignal a resource shift. If not, the flow may return to operation 1010where the electronic device may continue to analyze traffic. Otherwise,if the electronic device determines to signal the resource shift, theelectronic device signals accordingly at operation 1030. In someimplementations, the electronic device may signal the resource shift bytransmitting one or more notifications to one or more agent electronicdevices.

For example, the electronic device may determine to shift resources of asecurity screening system. This may involve moving personnel, openingand/or closing one or more security screening lanes and/or securityscreening locations, redirecting people for security screening,activating and/or disabling security screening components, and so on. Byway of illustration, the electronic device may determine that onesecurity screening location at an airport will experience significantlyhigher traffic than a second security screening location at the airport.In response, the electronic device may redirect personnel from thesecond security screening location to the first security screeninglocation. Alternatively and/or additionally, the electronic device maytransmit one or more redirection messages to redirect people to thesecond security screening location instead of the first securityscreening location. Various configurations are possible and contemplatedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

In various examples, this example method 1000 may be implemented as agroup of interrelated software modules or components that performvarious functions discussed herein. These software modules or componentsmay be executed within a cloud network and/or by one or more computingdevices, such as the identity system electronic device 102, 402 of FIGS.1 and/or 4, the agent electronic device 406 of FIG. 4, and/or thestations 103, 303A-303H, 403 of FIGS. 1 and/or 3A-4.

Although the example method 1000 is illustrated and described asincluding particular operations performed in a particular order, it isunderstood that this is an example. In various implementations, variousorders of the same, similar, and/or different operations may beperformed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

For example, the method 1000 is illustrated and described as determiningwhether or not to shift resources based on the analyzed traffic.However, it is understood that this is an example. In someimplementations, the electronic device may analyze the traffic andnotify one or more agent electronic devices regarding the analysis. Insuch an implementation, the agent electronic device may determinewhether or not to shift resources instead of the electronic devicedetermining such. Various configurations are possible and contemplatedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

Although the above illustrates and describes a number of embodiments, itis understood that these are examples. In various implementations,various techniques of individual embodiments may be combined withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure.

In various implementations, the techniques disclosed herein may be usedin the context of facilitating interacting with one or more peoplemoving through one or more airports. This may allow use of biometrics,credentialed authentication (such as real time driver's license,passport, and/or other identification card verification), and/or knownidentity as part of security screening. Determined identity may be usedto communicate with travelers through airports. Identity and data suchas that from governmental secure flight databases may be used to directstaffing and/or travelers real time to maximize efficiency.Verifications may be active and/or passive to allow for queue entry,differentiated queuing for load balancing, electronic gating and/orscreening, and so on. Queues may be managed based on flight times,delayed flights, and so on. Terminal maps and/or various directions maybe provided for wayfinding, construction rerouting, and soon. Issues maybe detected by determining that people are not where they are predictedto be. Missed flights may be detected and/or estimated and automaticallyhandled. Airline, security screening, baggage handling, and/or otheremployees may be monitored. Various configurations are possible andcontemplated without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

As described above and illustrated in the accompanying figures, thepresent disclosure relates to facilitating interaction with peoplemoving through areas. A system may receive a digital representation of abiometric for a person, use the digital representation of the biometricto determine and/or otherwise retrieve identity information associatedwith the person, and use the identity information to perform one or moreactions related to the person's presence in one or more areas. Forexample, the system may estimate a path for the person and signal anagent electronic device based on the path. In another example, thesystem may determine a presence of a person within the area and/ortransmit information to an agent electronic device regarding thedetermined presence. In still another example, the system may receive arequest to communicate with the person and forward the communication tothe person using the identity information. Various configurations arepossible and contemplated without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

The present disclosure recognizes that biometric and/or other personaldata is owned by the person from whom such biometric and/or otherpersonal data is derived. This data can be used to the benefit of thosepeople. For example, biometric data may be used to conveniently andreliably identify and/or authenticate the identity of people, accesssecurely stored financial and/or other information associated with thebiometric data, and so on. This may allow people to avoid repeatedlyproviding physical identification and/or other information.

The present disclosure further recognizes that the entities who collect,analyze, store, and/or otherwise use such biometric and/or otherpersonal data should comply with well-established privacy policiesand/or privacy practices. Particularly, such entities should implementand consistently use privacy policies and practices that are generallyrecognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirementsfor maintaining security and privately maintaining biometric and/orother personal data, including the use of encryption and securitymethods that meets or exceeds industry or government standards. Forexample, biometric and/or other personal data should be collected forlegitimate and reasonable uses and not shared or sold outside of thoselegitimate uses. Further, such collection should occur only afterreceiving the informed consent. Additionally, such entities should takeany needed steps for safeguarding and securing access to such biometricand/or other personal data and ensuring that others with access to thebiometric and/or other personal data adhere to the same privacy policiesand practices. Further, such entities should certify their adherence towidely accepted privacy policies and practices by subjecting themselvesto appropriate third party evaluation.

Additionally, the present disclosure recognizes that people may blockthe use of, storage of, and/or access to biometric and/or other personaldata. Entities who typically collect, analyze, store, and/or otherwiseuse such biometric and/or other personal data should implement andconsistently prevent any collection, analysis, storage, and/or other useof any biometric and/or other personal data blocked by the person fromwhom such biometric and/or other personal data is derived.

In the present disclosure, the methods disclosed may be implemented assets of instructions or software readable by a device. Further, it isunderstood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methodsdisclosed are examples of sample approaches. In other embodiments, thespecific order or hierarchy of steps in the method can be rearrangedwhile remaining within the disclosed subject matter. The accompanyingmethod claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order,and are not necessarily meant to be limited to the specific order orhierarchy presented.

The described disclosure may be provided as a computer program product,or software, that may include a non-transitory machine-readable mediumhaving stored thereon instructions, which may be used to program acomputer system (or other electronic devices) to perform a processaccording to the present disclosure. A non-transitory machine-readablemedium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form (e.g.,software, processing application) readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). The non-transitory machine-readable medium may take the formof, but is not limited to, a magnetic storage medium (e.g., floppydiskette, video cassette, and so on); optical storage medium (e.g.,CD-ROM); magneto-optical storage medium; read only memory (ROM); randomaccess memory (RAM); erasable programmable memory (e.g., EPROM andEEPROM); flash memory; and so on.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specificnomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the describedembodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatthe specific details are not required in order to practice the describedembodiments. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of the specificembodiments described herein are presented for purposes of illustrationand description. They are not targeted to be exhaustive or to limit theembodiments to the precise forms disclosed. It will be apparent to oneof ordinary skill in the art that many modifications and variations arepossible in view of the above teachings.

1-2. (canceled)
 3. A system for facilitating interaction with one or more people moving through at least one airport, comprising: at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; at least one communication unit; and at least one processor, communicably coupled to the at least one communication unit, that executes the instructions to: receive a digital representation of a biometric for a person in the at least one airport; use the digital representation of the biometric to determine identity information associated with the person; estimate a path for the person within the at least one airport; analyze airport traffic for the at least one airport using at least the identity information; and signal an agent electronic device based on the path using the at least one communication unit; wherein the at least one processor signals the agent electronic device to shift airport personnel based on the airport traffic.
 4. (canceled)
 5. A system for facilitating interaction with one or more people moving through at least one airport, comprising: at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; at least one communication unit; and at least one processor, communicably coupled to the at least one communication unit, that executes the instructions to: receive a digital representation of a biometric for a person in the at least one airport; use the digital representation of the biometric to determine identity information associated with the person; estimate a path for the person within the at least one airport; analyze airport traffic for the at least one airport using at least the identity information; signal an agent electronic device based on the path using the at least one communication unit; and transmit a message in response to analysis of the airport traffic to an electronic device associated with the person; wherein: the at least one processor transmits the message to prioritize a first portion of the airport traffic over a second portion of the airport traffic; and the person is part of the first portion of the airport traffic or the second portion of the airport traffic.
 6. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one airport includes a departure airport.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one airport further includes an arrival airport. 8-15. (canceled)
 16. A system for facilitating interaction with one or more people moving through at least one airport, comprising: at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; at least one communication unit; and at least one processor, communicably coupled to the at least one communication unit, that executes the instructions to: receive a digital representation of a biometric for a person in the at least one airport; use the digital representation of the biometric to determine identity information associated with the person; receive a request to communicate with the person from an agent electronic device using the at least one communication unit; and forward a communication to the person according to the request using the identity information and the at least one communication unit; wherein the communication includes directions for the person that instruct how to navigate through the at least one airport from a first location to a second location.
 17. A system for facilitating interaction with one or more people moving through at least one airport, comprising: at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; at least one communication unit; and at least one processor, communicably coupled to the at least one communication unit, that executes the instructions to: receive a digital representation of a biometric for a person in the at least one airport; use the digital representation of the biometric to determine identity information associated with the person; receive a request to communicate with the person from an agent electronic device using the at least one communication unit; and forward a communication to the person according to the request using the identity information and the at least one communication unit; wherein the communication includes an indication that flight information for the person has changed and specifies corresponding updated flight information for the person.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor forwards the communication using contact information specified in the identity information.
 19. A system for facilitating interaction with one or more people moving through at least one airport, comprising: at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; at least one communication unit; and at least one processor, communicably coupled to the at least one communication unit, that executes the instructions to: receive a digital representation of a biometric for a person in the at least one airport; use the digital representation of the biometric to determine identity information associated with the person; receive a request to communicate with the person from an agent electronic device using the at least one communication unit; and forward a communication to the person according to the request using the identity information and the at least one communication unit; wherein: the communication provides a commercial offer to the person that the person can accept to engage in a commercial transaction; and the at least one processor receives an acceptance of the commercial offer from the person.
 20. The system of claim 16, wherein the communication includes baggage information for the person.
 21. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor determines a presence of the person within the at least one airport using at least the identity information.
 22. The system of claim 5, wherein: the first portion of the airport traffic comprises people with sooner departing flights; and the second portion of the airport traffic comprises people with later departing flights
 23. The system of claim 16, wherein the first location comprises a current location of the person.
 24. The system of claim 16, wherein the directions for the person include an airport map.
 25. The system of claim 16, wherein the second location comprises a particular security lane.
 26. The system of claim 17, wherein the updated flight information comprises a changed flight time.
 27. The system of claim 17, wherein the updated flight information comprises a changed seat assignment.
 28. The system of claim 17, wherein the updated flight information comprises a changed gate.
 29. (canceled)
 30. The system of claim 19, wherein the commercial offer comprises an offer for free or discounted goods or services.
 31. A system for facilitating interaction with one or more people moving through at least one airport, comprising: at least one non-transitory storage medium that stores instructions; at least one communication unit; and at least one processor, communicably coupled to the at least one communication unit, that executes the instructions to: receive digital representation of a biometric for a person in the at least one airport; use the digital representation of the biometric to determine identity information associated with the person; receive a request to communicate with the person from an agent electronic device using the at least one communication unit; and forward a communication to the person according to the request using the identity information and the at least one communication unit; wherein: the communication provides a commercial offer to the person that the person can accept to engage in a commercial transaction; the commercial offer comprises an offer for free or discounted goods or services; and acceptance of the commercial offer enrolls the person in a loyalty or rewards account. 